EU on brink: Crippling economic impact of Italy leaving bloc revealed

ITALY could leave the EU after the coronavirus crisis as anti-European sentiment across the country is rapidly rising. According to two experts, though, that would have devastating consequences for the entire eurozone, as it would mean the immediate collapse of the monetary union.

We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Political fragmentation is intensifying in Italy as the coronavirus outbreak is giving new ammunition to anti-establishment parties and is challenging its European membership. Italy has the highest death toll from the COVID19 outbreak in Europe and has desperately lobbied its partners, alongside Spain and France, to issue so-called "corona bonds" – sharing debt that all EU nations would help to pay off. However, the Netherlands and Germany in particular, are opposed to the idea as they see it as potentially putting their taxpayers on the hook for the debt of other countries.

The International Monetary Fund expects Italy’s economy to shrink by 9.1 percent in 2020 — the worst peacetime decline in nearly a century.

Italy also felt abandoned at the start of the crisis, with European countries reluctant to share much-needed medical supplies, for which the EU Commission president offered a “heartfelt apology” last week.

A Tecne poll from April 9 and 10 found the share of Italians that would vote to leave the EU in a referendum was up by 20 percentage points to 49 percent, compared to a previous poll from the end of 2018.